3 "When brothers live together and one of
them dies without a son, the widow of the deceased shall not marry anyone
outside the family; but her husband's brother shall go to her and perform the
duty of a brother-in-law by marrying her.

6

The first-born son she bears shall continue the
line of the deceased brother, that his name may not be blotted out from Israel.

7

If, however, a man does not care to marry his
brother's wife, she shall go up to the elders at the gate and declare, 'My
brother-in-law does not intend to perform his duty toward me and refuses to
perpetuate his brother's name in Israel.'

8

Thereupon the elders of his city shall summon
him and admonish him. If he persists in saying, 'I am not willing to marry
her,'

9

4 his sister-in-law, in the presence of the
elders, shall go up to him and strip his sandal from his foot and spit in his
face, saying publicly, 'This is how one should be treated who will not build up
his brother's family!'

10

And his lineage shall be spoken of in Israel as
'the family of the man stripped of his sandal.'

11

"When two men are fighting and the wife of
one intervenes to save her husband from the blows of his opponent, if she stretches
out her hand and seizes the latter by his private parts,

12

you shall chop off her hand without pity.

13

"You shall not keep two differing weights
in your bag, one large and the other small;

14

nor shall you keep two different measures in
your house, one large and the other small.

15

But use a true and just weight, and a true and
just measure, that you may have a long life on the land which the LORD, your
God, is giving you.

16

Everyone who is dishonest in any of these
matters is an abomination to the LORD, your God.

17

5 "Bear in mind what Amalek did to you on
the journey after you left Egypt,

18

how without fear of any god he harassed you
along the way, weak and weary as you were, and cut off at the rear all those
who lagged behind.

19

Therefore, when the LORD, your God, gives you
rest from all your enemies round about in the land which he is giving you to
occupy as your heritage, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under the
heavens. Do not forget!

2 [4] St. Paul argues from this verse
that a laborer has the right to live on the fruits of his labor; cf ⇒ 1
Cor 9:9; ⇒ 1 Tim 5:18.

3 [5] When brothers live together:
when relatives of the same clan, though married, hold their property in common.
It was only in this case that the present law was to be observed, since one of
its purposes was to keep the property of the deceased within the same clan.
Such a marriage of a widow with her brother-in-law is known as a
"levirate" marriage from the Latin word levir, meaning "a
husband's brother."

4 [9-10] The penalty decreed for a
man who refuses to comply with this law of family loyalty is public disgrace
(the widow is to spit in his face) and the curse of poverty; sandals were
proverbially a man's cheapest possession (cf ⇒ Amos 2:6;
⇒ 8:6), and therefore "a man without
sandals" was the poorest of the poor. Some commentators, however, connect
this symbolic act with the ceremony mentioned in ⇒ Ruth
4:7, 8.

5 [17-19] This attack on Israel by
Amalek is not mentioned elsewhere in the Old Testament, although it probably
was connected with the battle mentioned in ⇒ Exodus
17:8. A campaign against Amalek was carried out by Saul; cf 1 Sam 15.